Sunday Thinking

My faith is amplified; my potential activated and my intentions realized.

December 20, 2020

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The weekly Sunday Thinking newsletter is quick-hit content that aims to provide a booster shot to your thought process as you end and start your week.

“I came to realize that maintaining a grateful perspective is a true practice. Just as it takes commitment to keep a muscle strong, that same is true of perspective.”

― Kristi Nelson, Executive Director of A Network for Grateful Living

I. Old Work Paradigm

  1. Show Up

  2. Be Average

  3. Work Hard

  4. Play by the Rules

Will you dare to challenge the status quo and live uncommonly?

II. Transforming Conversations

Brené Brown offers Northwestern University Clinical Professor of Leadership Michelle L. Buck’s tools for conflict transformation as ways to get closer to people with whom we disagree:

  • Have the difficult conversation – Willingness to “agree to disagree” may feel like the easiest option, but avoiding hard conversations can lead to assumptions that generate resentment.

  • Talk about the intentions behind the conversation – Two relatives might disagree, for example, about a family get-together but both may want to increase connection. They would each benefit from understanding the other person’s motivations and priorities.

  • Future focus – Identify behaviors that can lead to a shared vision for a positive future.

  • Conflict transformation “rather than…conflict resolution” – The word “resolution” suggests returning to a prior state or selecting a new winner and loser. Transformation involves “perspective-taking” – that is, cultivating deeper understanding and identifying new options.

  • “Tell me more”– A discussion is an opportunity to understand another person’s stance. Ask people to tell you more about their perspectives. Strive to understand the same way you wish to be understood.

III. Gentle Reminders To Self

  • You were born to be real, not perfect.

  • Allow yourself to feel and heal without judgment.

  • Joy is your birthright and peace has a place in your life.

  • Be kind to yourself, even the messy and confusing parts.

  • You don’t have to always know where you’re going to start the journey.

IV. Question

What are you leaving in 2020?

V. This Week I Will

  1. Say I Love You.

  2. Thank someone.

  3. Focus on best-case scenarios.

  4. Reflect on how I want to feel in 2021.

  5. Find moments to unplug to be present.

The Last Words…

“If you're reading this...Congratulations, you're alive. If that's not something to smile about, then I don't know what is.”

― Chad Sugg, Author & Musician

P.S. Searching for a book recommendation? Our team at The Daily Coach highly recommends I Came As a Shadow: An Autobiography by John Thompson with Jesse Washington. After three decades at the center of race and sports in America, the first Black head coach to win an NCAA championship makes the private public at last. Chockful of stories and moving beyond mere stats, Thompson’s book drives us through his childhood under Jim Crow segregation to our current moment of racial reckoning. In these pages―a last gift from “Coach”―he proves himself to be the elder statesman whose final words college basketball and the country need to hear.

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